Fast and Loose
by DestroyMe
Summary: 'To survive you need to become strong.' I was never weak, but the strength they were asking for, I could never find in myself. Not alone anyway.
1. Chapter 1

The sun was coming up like a big bald head, over the man made lake. It had been a quarry but that was years ago. It's waters a beautiful soft blue, surrounded on three sides by high walls of stone. The shore was filled with trees and rocks, and farther back from that was our new home, a camp filled with lost families.

We had been here for a couple of weeks now, trying our best to survive with little food, no homes, despair, depression, strangers, and use to be people that try to eat us…alive. The joys of an apocalypse….it can only get worse from here.

I always had a terrible time sleeping, but now it was almost non existent. I decided to get up for the day, nodding to Shane (he was a cop before this) who was on watch, and sit at the shore and watch the sun, my chin resting on my knees and my arms wrapped around them…Thinking about how life use to be, how it is, and how it will be. Who knew if I would make it to next month, next week, or even tonight. It was a new terrifying world, and I was waiting for my last moment. If I'm lucky, it will be by my own hands.

{'Of all the words of Mice and Men, the saddest are, 'It might have been.''}

I'm not sure how long I sat there, just watching the sun slowly rise and the water going back and forth from the shore. I could tell it was gonna be another hot one today, but when you are in Georgia, it's always hot. Being from Minnesota and only here because of a visit, I thought it was always ridiculously hot. I would kill for a nice cold winter day up on one of the lakes instead of this brain melting heat.

I heard someone's footsteps coming from behind me, their shoes making the small rocks crunch together.

'Shane said you've been here since before dawn.'

I turned my head and looked up. Dale was standing there, his hat on his head, he was looking out towards the lake. I nodded my head to his statement. I liked Dale, he was the 'Grandfather' of the group. I don't know if he actually had any kids or grandkids, but he kind of just fell into this role. He was a very nice man, but a bit of a worry wart.

'Are you okay?'

I nodded again. I had been coming out to the lake every time I couldn't sleep, it calmed me. The water reminding me of my home.

'I'm here if you ever want to talk…But..uh..breakfast is ready if you're hungry.'

I felt his gaze linger on me for a minute before he turned and walked away.

I didn't have much of an appetite anymore.

Staying seated for a few more minutes, I could hear the movement of the campers and could feel the temperature rising steadily. I sighed and got up, dusting my butt off and decided I should probably go do my chores.

Life continued on like this for a few more days, we were running low on food again so a man named Daryl Dixon went hunting for us. It was usually a couple of day trip for him. I envied that he was able to go out to the woods and enjoy the peace and quiet.

Daryl was a very quiet man, we had never talked, but we knew who each other was. If he wasn't out hunting, he was cleaning his knives, making arrows for his crossbow, or talking with his brother around their own campfire. His brother was Merle, he knew I was a quiet person, so he would come up to me and try to make me angry, try to get me to say something; but I always kept my mouth shut. I knew guys like him in high school.

Merle liked to start trouble and run his mouth, try to get into fights. And he was either high as a kite, or coming down. I stayed away from him the best I could.

Of the two Dixons, I liked Daryl the best. People thought him and his brother were stupid rednecks. But I knew they were both smart, very smart. Merle was bout an inch taller than Daryl and had a military style buzz, Daryl had kind of a shaggy long hair thing going on. He had a goatee and the most beautiful blue eyes I've seen.

Also going out, on a trip to the abandoned Atlanta to scavenge, was Glenn, T- Dog, Merle, Jacqui, Andrea, and Morales. Not sure when they would be back, or if they would come back at all. I just knew that with six people gone, we had to double up on chores. Which meant that now I really had to interact with people. You would think that with the world ending and human life coming to a low that I would buck up and try to be part of the group. But some things never change.

(((If you would like to be my Beta, please message me.)))


	2. Chapter 2

((I realized now that I didn't say this before. I don't own any part of The Walking Dead in any way, shape or form. Just having fun.))

((No Daryl yet in this chapter, but next chapter. Promise.))

I could hear a high pitched wailing, it sounded a lot like a siren. I was sitting on an upside down bucket next to the RV in the shade, I looked up as I heard Shane say, 'Talk to me Dale.'

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked to the only road that led to the quarry. I put down the clothes that I was stitching, I think they were Merles…maybe Daryl's. I was the only one Merle deemed worthy enough to fix their clothes. I didn't volunteer, they were dropped in my lap. I figured maybe if I fixed these, he would leave me alone. But when I looked up at him, he just winked me. Couldn't hurt to try though.

'Can't tell yet.', Dale called down to us from his perch on the RV. The campers were gathering, wanting to know if the siren was a threat.

'Is it them? Are they back?', A frightened blonde girl asked, I think her name was Amy.

I heard Dale mumble something and Amy must have too, 'What is it?', She asked.

'A stolen car is my guess.', Dale responded.

Lori had her arm around her son Carl, as the bright red sports car pulled up next to the other vehicles. The blaring noise coming from this car. Shane and a few others walked up to the car as a smiling Glenn stepped out.

'Holy crap! Turn that damn thing off!', Dale yelled down at Glenn. Knowing the noise would bring unwanted attention.

'I don't know how!', Glenn yelled back with his arms up in confusion.

Shane and Amy started talking to him at the same time, Shane telling him to pop the hood and Amy looking for her older sister.

'What? Okay, okay, okay! Yeah, yeah, yeah!' Glenn was getting frustrated, he opened the car again to pop the hood as Amy continued with her questions.

'She's okay! She's okay!', Glenn was trying to calm her down and stop her yelling at him.

'Is she coming back?', Amy asked, not convinced.

'Yes!' Glenn was walking away from her as Dale had gotten down off the RV and walked towards them.

'Why isn't she with you?!', Amy asked, 'Where is she? She's okay?'

I got up and leaned against the RV, watching the situation unfold. Poor Glenn, though I do understand Amy's worry for her sister, but Glenn already said she was fine.

'Yes. Yeah, fine, everybody is.' Glenn said, standing behind the car door, trying to put a barrier between himself and Amy. By now Shane had pulled something from the sporty car and stopped the alarm. It was quiet now, thank goodness.

'Well, Merle not so much.' Glenn blurt out. I stood off the RV and wondered what the hell happened. Merle was capable of taking care of himself, out of everyone being okay, how is he not?

Shane was leaning on the car, the hood still propped open when he started talking to Glenn, 'Are you crazy, driving this wailing bastard up here? Are you trying to draw every walker for miles.?'

'I think we're okay.', Dale said with a quick look around, his gun slung over his right shoulder incase danger would appear any second, which it easily could have.

'You call being stupid okay?', Shane said while looking over his shoulder at the older man.

'Well, the alarm was echoing all over these hills, hard to pinpoint the source.', Dale said as Shane stood up and started walking towards him, 'I'm not arguing, I'm just saying.'

'It wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?', Dale pointed a finger at Glenn.

'Sorry.', Glenn apologized, 'I got a cool car.'

I couldn't help but smile. Always looking at the brighter side of things, Glenn was.

Then a big moving truck pulled up next, parking behind one of the other vehicles. The doors opened and Andrea came out, running to Amy. They met in a crying hug, I looked down at the ground and kicked the dirt with my boot. Morales' family went running to him, he bent down picking up his children to join his wife. Lori grabbed Carl and led him away from the happy family's reuniting.

Shane stood and watched Carl and Lori with the gun resting on his shoulder, Dale and Morales hugged and talked. I picked up the clothes and got back to work, they wouldn't get done by themselves. Even if Merle wasn't coming back.

'How'd y'all get out of there anyway?', Shane questioned Glenn, who was reluctant to leave his new toy.

'New guy, he got us out.', the Korean responded.

'New guy?', Shane asked.

Morales chimed in, ' Yeah, crazy vato just got into town. Hey Helicopter boy! Come say hello!'

The man that got out of the driver seat was thin and tall with dark brown hair, wearing a Sherriff's uniform.

'The guy's a cop like you.', Morales said, his arms around his family.

Shane looked at the new man, and took a couple of unsteady steps. The Sherriff pointed and put his arm back down to his side, he looked ready to cry. I was trying to figure out what was going on, did Shane and him know each other? Did they work together?

The new man started walking quickly into the camp when I heard a small voice cry out, 'Dad! Dad!'. I turned and looked to see Carl and Lori running towards him.

The man caught his son in his arms, crying and hugging and kissing him. He picked him up and walked over to Lori, hugging her and kissing her too. All of us were stunned to comment on the joy that was happening before our eyes. I looked down at my sewing, not wanting to invade the private life. Though I couldn't hide the smile on my face. I was happy for them. But my smile quickly turned into a frown when I thought of Daryl. He was gonna be so pissed.

{'All this happened…more or less.'}

After finishing my sewing, I put it in front of the Dixon's tent. I didn't dare open it to set it inside, I was scared of what I would find….or smell. It was dark now, and everyone was around the fire, myself included, eating dinner. I'm not a people person, but the fire was comforting. I was sitting between Glenn and T-Dog when Rick started talking about what happened to him after we had finished eating, he held his wife and child close to his chest.

'Disoriented. I guess that comes closest. Disoriented. Fear, confusion. All those things but, disoriented comes closest.'

'Words can be meager things. Sometimes they fall short.', Dale commented as he set down his mug, I nodded. Andrea was sitting next to Dale, Amy rested her head on her sisters shoulder. Thankful to have her back.

'I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else. For a while I thought I was trapped, in some coma dream, something I might not wake up from, ever.', Rick continued.

His son looked up at him and said, 'Mom said you died.'

Rick thought of an answer quickly, 'She had every reason to believe that. Don't you ever doubt it.'

'When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna medevac you and the other patients to Atlanta, and it never happened.', Lori said. I couldn't help but think that if they had sent him, he would have been killed.

'Well I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell. And from the look of that hospital, it got overrun.', Rick said.

Shane commented from across the fire, 'Yeah, looks don't deceive. I barely got them out, ya know?'

'I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane. I can't begin to express it.'

'There go those words falling short again. Paltry things.', Dale said, I loved his way with words.

We heard some wood being added to the fire next to us, the jackass Ed was being loud. He liked to beat his wife and child. You could see the bruises on them. If he got bit, I would gladly kill him. There is no excuse for a man to treat his family like that.

Shane called out to him, 'Hey Ed. You want to rethink that log?'

Of course Ed had a reply, 'It's cold man.'

I wasn't cold, they wanted cold, go to Minnesota.

'The cold don't change the rules, does it?', Shane used his cop voice, 'Keep our fires low, just embers. So we can't be seen from a distance, right?'

You could tell Ed had been in jail before, 'I said it's cold. You mind your own business for once.'

Shane got up and walked over to Ed and his family. I couldn't hear the conversation but his quiet wife, Carol, got up and pulled the log out. Shane stomping on it to extinguish the fire. After a few more minutes, Shane came back and sat down.

'Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind.', Dale brought up the question of the night. To say Daryl would be upset is an understatement.

'I'll tell him. I dropped the key. It's on me.', I looked over to see T- Dog talking, I learned of the situation earlier. Merle getting out of hand, there only choice to subdue him. Drugs were a nasty business.

''I cuffed him. That makes it mine.', Rick said.

'Guy's, it's not a competition. I don't mean to bring race into this but it might sound better coming from a white guy.', Glenn piped in.

'I did what I did. Hell if I'm gonna hide from him.', T- Dogg said.

'We could lie.', Amy suggested. I turned and glared at her. Lying was the last thing Daryl would need.

'Or tell the truth. Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed. Your husband did what was necessary. And if Merle got left behind, it is nobody's fault but Merle's.', Andrea said.

'And that's what we tell Daryl? I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you?…..Word to the wise, we're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt.', Dale said, I knew he was right. Daryl will be livid with this information. I would be too. But there is nothing we could do but tell the truth.

'I was scared and I ran, I'm not ashamed of it.', T-Dog admitted.

'We were all scared. We all ran. What's your point?', Andrea asked.

'I stopped long enough to chain that door. Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It's not enough to break through that, not that chain, not that padlock….My point, Dixon's alive and he's still up there, handcuffed on that roof. That's on us.', T-Dog said, getting up and walking away. I'm glad I got the sewing done than. A small part of me was glad that he might be alive, I wasn't too fond of him, but I never wished death on anyone, especially not like that.

Shortly after that, we decided to go to bed. I padded Glenn on the shoulder and he nodded up at me. I went into my own single tent and sat down on my sleeping bag. I dug through my duffle bag, and in one of my books I brought with me, I found the picture I was looking for.

It was the most recent picture of my family, so about a year old. It was the day my brother was being deployed to Iraq. The picture was taken in front of my Mum's flower garden by our neighbor, I kneeled down in front with my Rottweiler, who was fat and old but a good dog. He died two months after the picture was taken from old age.

Behind me stood my Mum and my baby brother. Our Mum is still very beautiful, always looked young for her age. Tall and thin, blonde hair and blue eyes, always smiling. She gave the best advice. She was always telling me to hold on and that things will be okay. That I just have to be strong.

In the picture, my brother was in his Army uniform, his arm around our Mum, a big smile on his face. He was taller than both of us with blue eyes and blonde hair, he was a heartbreaker, but a gentleman. He was the reason I had come to Georgia, he was back for a visit or something, and that was where the Army was sending him. But I never got to see him. The outbreak happened and I don't now if he was even able to land on U.S. soil, or if they needed him to fight here.

I don't know if our Mum was still alive, or my brother. But I kept hope, kept it tucked away in the back of my heart. So when the day came, it wouldn't hurt so bad. I kissed the picture and put it back in the book, and stowed it back in the bag. I turned off my lantern and laid down just as the thunder and rain started.


	3. Chapter 3

((I do not own any part of The Walking Dead in any way, shape or form. Just having fun.))

The morning comes to quickly when you have a hard time sleeping. I kept my eyes closed but the sounds of the camp made me realize that even if I did fall back asleep, that it wouldn't last long. Sighing, I sat up in my sleeping bag and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. Ugh. It was gonna be a long day.

And we still had to tell Daryl about his brother. Fuck. Glad I wasn't gonna be the one to do it.

Dressing in my cleanest jeans, which had holes in the knees, and my black sleeveless Motorhead t-shirt, I slipped on my boots and brushed my long black hair into a ponytail. I was about to unzip my tent when I realized that I didn't have my glasses on. I wasn't blind without them, but it did make seeing a lot easier. Donning my lenses, I opened my tent, and stepped into the blinding sunlight.

'Well, good morning sunshine!', I heard a voice from across the camp. I looked up to see Dale waving at me. I never really talked to anyone, accept for the necessity, yet Dale decided at some point to try to talk to me whenever he got the chance. Even if it was just a hello. So, being polite, I gave a small wave back and started on my chores.

A while later Rick got up and started talking to people, when Shane pulled up very quickly in his jeep. I set my axe down , as I was chopping wood for the campfires, and stretched my back. I had lower back problems before but now it had gotten ridiculous. Hard manual labor and shitty beds does that.

'Water is here ya'll. Just a reminder to boil before use.', Shane called out, Andrea and some others retrieved the water from the back of the jeep. I wiped the sweat out of my eyes, grabbing my axe and bringing up to swing it down on a chunk of wood when there were screams heard through out the camp.

I ran to the screams, fearing the worst, with the sharp axe still in my grip. Others were running and grabbing weapons as the children called out to their parents. Jacqui met us half way with some kids, I kept going. Knowing that if there was danger, they would need my help. Running further into the woods we stopped to find a walker munching on a deer that was struck with arrows, that's probably why it attracted the walker. The blood and dying sounds. It was too close to the camp for my comfort or probably anyone else's.

We gathered around the walker as it started to notice us. It got up and turned around, growling with blood and guts hanging from its mouth. It lunged at Rick, he hit it hard with a metal pole, Shane stepping up and swinging the butt of his rifle onto its back. Glenn took a swing with his bat, making it fall to the ground. 

Then the men started hitting it, keeping it on the ground. Dale took his axe and swung it down, cleaving the head from the body. The head had actually rolled to my feet. I looked down on it in wonder as to how it got this close without us noticing.

'It's the first one we've had up here. They never come this far up the mountain.', Dale finally spoke as everyone tried to get their breath back.

'We'll they're running out of food in the city, that's what.', Jim told us. We hated to think of it. But it was the truth. We were their food.

We heard snapping and brush rustling behind the deer, we raised our weapons. Waiting for the could be threat to step out of the woods.

Daryl emerged from the trees, crossbow in hand. Daryl was good looking, the closest I ever came to talking to him was a nod. I was never much for talking, and I believe that since coming to this camp I had said only a few words. Daryl wasn't much for conversation either. He was tall, 5'11'' maybe even 6'. I was 5' 8", so it wasn't too much of a difference. Except that he has this aura around him that makes him seem like a giant.

I always felt small in his presence. He usually wore jeans or cargo pants, and shirts without sleeves. Daryl was very broad shouldered, but he was lithe and muscular. His hair was brown and shaggy, he had a few tattoos that would peek out once in a while. But the most astonishing feature about this 'giant' was ice blue eyes, that fit perfectly with his angular face.

'Oh Jesus.', I heard Dale mutter.

'Son of a bitch.', Daryl said while coming around the trees and rocks, 'That's _my_ deer!.'

He came up next to the deer to inspect the damage, then over to the body of the walker, 'Look at it, all gnawed on by this, (he started kicking the body with each of his words) filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!'

The squirrels that were on a string slung over Daryl's shoulder would swing with each powerful kick.

'Calm down, son. That's not helping.', Dale said, ever being the peace maker.

Daryl walked up to him and got into Dale's face saying, 'What do you know about it, old man?! Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to ''on golden pond''.'

Sighing, Daryl decided Dale wasn't worth it, he went back over to the deer.

'I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp.', Daryl said as he began to pull out the arrows from the half eaten carcass, ' Cook us up some venison.'

My stomach began to rumble, I had forgotten in all the excitement that I hadn't eaten yet. Venison sounded good.

'What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?', the Redneck asked, looking around the group for an answer.

'I would not risk that.', Shane said, his rifle over his shoulders.

'That's a damn shame. I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so. That'll have to do.', Daryl said, adjusting the line on his right shoulder. When suddenly the head at my feet sprang back to life. It's eyes and mouth opening. It made me jump, I wasn't expecting a head to start moving.

I heard a voice behind me say, 'Oh god.', I think it was Amy. I brought my axe swiftly down on the head, stopping the little life that was left. I put my foot on it's head and pulled the axe back. Now that it was covered in walker grossness, I would have to clean it before going back to chopping. I walked off to do just that, leaving the others to deal with the mess.

I got a rag and plopped my butt on the ground, resting my back against an upturned log, next to the wood I was chopping earlier. I started to clean my axe when I heard Daryl call out for his brother. You ever get that 'oh shit' sensation in your gut? I think everyone in the camp felt it too at that same moment.

I turned to see Daryl almost to the center of the camp, still calling out for his brother.

'Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up.', Daryl had set his crossbow down next to one of the fires when Shane caught up to him.

'Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you.', Shane called out to him.

Daryl stopped in the middle of the camp and looked back at Shane.

'About what?', Daryl asked. I could almost smell the shit that was about to hit the fan.

'About Merle. There was a, uh, there was a problem in Atlanta.', Shane said calmly.

Daryl looked around to find that everyone had gathered to listen. Even I stopped cleaning.

'He dead?', Daryl asked.

'We're not sure.', Shane said.

'He either is or he ain't!' Daryl shouted, he was getting upset. Shane and him began to circle each other. I wondered if they even noticed they were doing it.

'No easy way to say this. So I'll just say it.', Rick said, coming to Shane's rescue.

'Who are you?', Daryl asked, directing his anger from one officer to the other.

'Rick Grimes.', he replied.

'Rick Grimes,' Daryl said mockingly, 'You got something you want to tell me?'

'You're brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there.', Rick explained. I saw T-Dog out of the corner of my eye, walking into camp with more wood for me to chop.

'Hold on. Let me process this…You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there!?', Daryl screamed. I flinched, I could never stand yelling, even if it was at someone else.

'Yeah.', Rick admitted quietly.

Daryl suddenly flung his rope of squirrels at Rick and went to hit him when Shane tackled Daryl out of no where. I stood up with my axe in hand, as T-Dog dropped his bundle of wood and ran to the scene. Daryl was on his back and unsheathed his knife from his belt.

I took a couple of big steps, getting closer to the scene.

'Watch the knife!', T-Dog called out.

Daryl swung at the officer, Shane and Rick both grabbed Daryl at the same time. Except Shane had the angry redneck in a chokehold, trying to calm him down.

'You'd best let me go!', Daryl yelled as he was being dragged by Shane.

'Nah, I think it's better if I don't.', Shane said as he was tugging Daryl to the ground.

'Chokehold's illegal.', Daryl grunted, trying to breathe as his windpipe was slowly being crushed. I took a few more steps closer in case things got out of hand.

'You can file a complaint. Come on, man. We can keep this up all day.', Shane said. Daryl was struggling to get air. I was getting more worried, not that he couldn't take care of himself. But I never really trusted Shane.

'I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?….Do you think we can manage that?', Rick asked in his cop voice. Shane threw Daryl to the ground after releasing him. I relaxed a little but my grip on the axe was still tight.

'What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others.', Rick said, getting in Daryl's face.

'It's not Rick's fault. I had the key.', T-Dog said, catching the attention of both men, 'I dropped it.'

'You couldn't pick it up?!', Daryl asked, still on the ground panting.

'Well, I dropped it in a drain.', T-Dog said.

Daryl rolled to his hands and knees, trying to breathe. He got up and began to walk away saying, 'If it's suppose to make me feel better, it don't.'

'Well maybe this will.', T-Dog started, making Daryl stop and turn to him, ' Look, I chained the door to the roof, so the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock.'

'It's gotta count for something.', Rick defended.

Daryl angrily wiped at his eyes, trying not to cry at the possible loss of his only family member.

'Hell with all y'all! Just tell me where he is, so's I can go get him.', Daryl said.

'He'll show you. Isn't that right?', Lori said from the RV.

Rick looked around, 'I'm going back.'

The small crowd dispersed, seeing as the action was over. Daryl looked to me, seeing my hand still gripping my axe. I stared back into his eyes, the emotions in them were too angry, I looked away first. Going back to wiping off the blood.

A few people were getting ready to go back into the city when Shane started trailing Rick, asking him questions.

"-Could you throw me a bone here, man? Could you just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?', Shane said, I only caught half of the conversation as I set up another piece of wood to cut in half.

'Hey. Choose your words more carefully.', Daryl said, pointing to Shane. Daryl was already on edge. It wouldn't take much to set him off again. Like stepping on a Rattlesnake, just takes one second. And you're done for.

"No, I did. Douche bag's what I meant. Merle Dixon, the guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst.', Shane said. I was impressed, he was either stupid or had a death wish.

'What he would or wouldn't do, doesn't interest me. I can't let a man die of thirst. Me. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being.', Rick explained. I didn't really know Rick, but he was compassionate….it might get him killed.

'So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?', Lori asked.

Rick turned and found Glenn, giving him a look. Earning a groan from the Asian and a ,'Oh come on.'

'You know the way. You've been there before. In and out, no problem. You said so yourself. It's not fair of me to ask, I know that. But I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would too.', Rick said.

'Now that's just great. Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?', Shane asked. Obviously not happy with this decision.

'Four.', T-Dog chimed in, making Daryl huff and shake his head.

'My day just gets better and better, don't it?', Daryl commented, cleaning his bolts.

'You see anybody else here stepping up? To save your brother' cracker ass?', T-Dog asked.

'Why you?', Daryl grunted.

'You wouldn't even begin to understand. You don't speak my language.', T- Dog said, not wanting to have this conversation.

'That's four.', Dale said.

'That's not just four. You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp.', Shane said, playing the dirty cards. Rick was gonna do whatever he wants, so will Daryl. The only one that doesn't have a choice in this matter is Glenn.

'It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns.', Rick commented. We do need more guns. Though I'm a terrible shot.

'Right, the guns.', Glenn agreed, stepping up the Rick and Shane.

'Wait. What guns?', Shane asked.

'Six shot guns, two high powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there out on the street, waiting to be picked up.'

'Ammo?'

'700 rounds, assorted.'

Then Lori decided she needed to be heard too, 'You went through hell to find us. You just got here. And you're gonna turn around and leave?'

'Dad, I don't want you to go.', Carl said, agreeing with his Mom.

'To hell with the guns. Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, even with the guns thrown in. Tell me, make me understand.', Lori continued.

'I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy. Lori, if they hadn't taken me in, I'd have died. It's because of them that I made it back to you at all. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn him.', Rick said to his wife.

'What's stopping you?', she asked.

'The walkie-talkie. The one in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer.'

'We're they are walkies?', Shane asked.

'Yeah.', Rick sighed.

'So use the C.B. what's wrong with that?', Andrea asked.

'The C.B.'s fine. It's the walkies that suck to crap. Date back to the '70's, don't match any other bandwidth. Not even the scanners in our cars.', Shane explained.

'I need that bag.', Rick said again. Lori looked defeated and stepped aside.

After the others getting some things ready, I decided to take a break, having chopped enough wood for one day. My arms and back were aching. I looked up to see Daryl pacing like a caged wolf in the back of the packing truck.

Daryl was getting impatient, I saw him step over Glenn whom was in the drivers seat and slam down on the horn a couple times. 'Come on, let's go!', Daryl yelled out.

Shane talked to Rick, giving him what looked like bullets. Daryl looked out at the camp, we made eye contact for a split second. There was so much ferocity and anger with a touch of worry in his eyes, but like I said it only lasted a second. He gave me a quick nod. I think that was his way of saying thanks for being ready to help earlier if he needed it. Though he would never admit it. He slammed the back of the truck shut and off they went. I closed my eyes and silently wished him good luck.

[[ guess I better get movin'. Lotta things I gotta do. I realize it was a waste of time. Talkin' sense to you. You can go to hell. ]]


End file.
